Hope everyone has been enjoying physics all Summer, its been a very good exceuse to spend my time reading books and watching big bang theory.
I've been reading Prof Cox's book on the theory of realtivity and the bad astronomy book - unfortunately not being able to read just one book at a time means I haven't finished either yet but the reviews so far are below.
Prof Cox and the theory of relativity.
I'm half way through this one and I have been very pleasently suprised that I have managed to get that far! It keeps the maths simple - as the cover promises the maths never gets harder than Pythagoras theory but the ideas and concepts make your head spin . There have been a few light bulb moments though where things I have heard little bits about but have never been bothered to read up on have suddenly become clearer like what space time actually is. You can't read it with anything else going on though you've got to concentrate but there is a slight sense of smugness when you tell people what your reading.
Bad Astronomy
Absolutely fantastic! At some point ths week I have to get at least one of my classes balancing eggs! Really easy to read and tackles all sorts of things including the water going down the plughole one way in the Northern hemisphere and the other way in the Southern hemisphere - it is really hard not to cheat and jump to the moon landings.
I went back to school thoroughly enthused about Physics after the introduction I think i put some of the Biologists into shock. My HoD also looked worried when i asked if we had a baseball bat!
I've been reading Prof Cox's book on the theory of realtivity and the bad astronomy book - unfortunately not being able to read just one book at a time means I haven't finished either yet but the reviews so far are below.
Prof Cox and the theory of relativity.
I'm half way through this one and I have been very pleasently suprised that I have managed to get that far! It keeps the maths simple - as the cover promises the maths never gets harder than Pythagoras theory but the ideas and concepts make your head spin . There have been a few light bulb moments though where things I have heard little bits about but have never been bothered to read up on have suddenly become clearer like what space time actually is. You can't read it with anything else going on though you've got to concentrate but there is a slight sense of smugness when you tell people what your reading.
Bad Astronomy
Absolutely fantastic! At some point ths week I have to get at least one of my classes balancing eggs! Really easy to read and tackles all sorts of things including the water going down the plughole one way in the Northern hemisphere and the other way in the Southern hemisphere - it is really hard not to cheat and jump to the moon landings.
I went back to school thoroughly enthused about Physics after the introduction I think i put some of the Biologists into shock. My HoD also looked worried when i asked if we had a baseball bat!